With such a wide diversity of builds possible in ArchAge (120 ability combinations are possible) there is no doubt going to be a lot of ‘discussion’ as to the best builds or indeed what even makes a good healer, tank, assassin or even mage etc. I strongly suspect that far less ability combinations will be used as people tailor their choices to meet a more defined skill outcome.

In general players will try to fit into generic, mmorpg skill sets.

These can include;

Tank

Fighter (phy. dmg)

Archer (ranger)

Healer

Attack Mage (mag. dmg)

Support Mage (buffs/debuffs/crowd control)

etc.

Now, with 120 possible ability combinations, it is unlikely that there will be 120 class titles that quickly sum-up a specific skill set. So, one ‘fighter’ could have a different skill set to another ‘fighter’.

A closer look at ability sets

Phys. Att.

Mag. Att.

Protection

Weakening

Reinforcement

Fight

4

1

3

2

2

Adamant

2

1

2

2

5

Death

1

5

2

3

1

Magic

1

5

1

2

3

Romance

1

1

5

2

3

Illusion

1

3

1

5

2

Will

2

3

2

2

3

Wild

5

1

3

1

2

Vocation

5

1

3

2

1

Love

1

2

2

3

4

But what does each skill actually do? More information can be gained from ArcheAge Game Details which includes spoiler information. (The ability names below have been adjusted to match those used)

Fight – Close combat

Illusion – Debuffs, Crowd control.

Adamant – Tanks skills, all for defense and survivability.

Will – Magical damage, magic defence, opening portals.

Death – Necromancer. Period.

Wild – Ranger, taming skills.

Magic – Magic.

Vocation – Burst damage pvp build.

Romance – Buffs (you sing, you play)

Love – Heal and resurrect allies.

So, each of the 3 skill choices adds 12 points to each of 5 abilities. The highest (or most specialised) abilities can be achieved as follows;

Phys. Att. (14 pts) – Fight. Wild & Vocation

Mag. Att. (13 pts) – Death, Magic & either Illusion or Will

Protection (11 pts) – Romance with 2 of Fight, Wild or Vocation

Weakening (11 pts) – Death, Illusion & Love

Reinforcement (12 pts) – Adamant, Love or either Magic, Romance or will

This doesn’t tell the whole story though.
Each ability is made up of 12 skills. It is planned that using one skill could affect another skill used.
Each skill is also planned to have its own graphic animation so that you will not only be able to recognise a party member using one skill but alo that of an enemy.

And we haven’t even started yet on which skills or abilities compliment the armor type that can be worn (given that any player can wear any armor type but certain armor types could adversely affect skills).

Nor have we looked at player styles. eg. Group versus Solo play, PvE versus PvP, etc.

I strongly suspect that until more information is released, we can still only speculate on which classes, abilities & builds will best suit our playing styles.